Try

• Take a Class – Once you get established in your career, look into opportunities for self-improvement. See if your agency will fund you taking an English or writing class at the local college. A class like that may or may not help your career by itself, but if you take it seriously, the improvement in your writing will be noticeable.
• Read a Lot – The fastest way to become a better writer is to read more. Try to knock out a novel a month at first. Go pick up five magazines that you would never read otherwise. Notice not just what they are saying, but how they are saying it.
• Read to Edit – Take a look at reports (and even facebook posts) that other cops have written. Try to spot the errors and areas for improvement. It will help you catch your own errors.
• Have Five Different People Review Anything Important – You know which reports and which cases are going to get hot. When you write those reports, have a couple of different people read and critique them before you submit.
• Read it Out Loud – When you read it out loud, does it sound stupid? Then it is stupid. Fix it.
• Force Yourself Into an Outline – You may be held to the format of a standard form or agency rules about what to cover, but start out by figuring out what you are trying to convey. Consider communicating in a format like “5Ws” (Who, What, Where…), or FIRAC (Facts, Issues, Rules, Analysis, Conclusion), and always try to put the bottom line up front (BLUF). If you are writing a report about how someone committed a crime, write out how their actions met every element of that particular crime – go open up the book if you need to, it will make your life easier when it gets to the lawyers.
• Write Like You Are Explaining it to Your Mom – Most jurors don’t know what OC Spray is, they don’t know what a blood choke is, they don’t know what a Terry Search is. They don’t know shorthand like ETOH or Code 3.
• Use First Person and Active Voice – You can say “I” in writing. You can also indicate personal cause and effect without accepting blame. For example, “As he pulled a gun, he was shot by officers on scene.” Sounds like your agency is trying to distance itself from what actually happened. It sounds like bureaucratic weasel-speak. It is the agency version of “Those aren’t my pants.” Instead, try: “The subject pulled a gun and the officers shot him.”
• Use Spell and Grammar Check – Those are brilliant tools. If you are hand writing a report, you can even use your smartphone to check the spelling and grammar of a tricky sentence.
• Separate Facts from Conclusions – You want your report to be written in facts, and you need to label your conclusions. For example, “I interpreted x, y, and z as an indication that he was not being truthful, so I ____.”

Avoid

“While making contact with the caller, she told me she was threatened by a man with a gun and that the subject was sitting in his car across the street. I made sure she was safe, and then went to make contact with the subject. As I approached his car, he exited the driver door and postured himself in a fighting stance, but with his hands low near his waistband. I directed him to show me his hands and he immediately lunged at me, quickly closing the 20 foot distance. As he got within distance to strike me, I used a Widget brand electronic taser device to stop his momentum and bring him to the ground. He appeared agitated but otherwise healthy and compliant as I put him in handcuffs and placed him in the back of my patrol car. About two minutes later, I noticed he appeared to be convulsing and I immediately requested emergency medical support while I rendered aid to him in the field. I got him out of the car, conducted an assessment and determined he was having a major medical episode. Following my training, I attempted to protect his head as he thrashed. EMS arrived and transported him. I learned later that night that he died at the hospital.”